The Power to Be Holy
2 Corinthians 3:17 The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Victory over sin –especially that one sin that keeps on coming back to bite you again and again – is, on the one hand, a foregone conclusion, but on the other is something that eludes many a Christ-follower.
It’s a perplexing problem, isn’t it? Jesus set us free and yet we keep on sinning. So let’s talk first about the truth that Jesus has set us free from the power of sin.
Romans 6:6 We know that our old life was put to death on the cross with Christ. This happened so that our sinful selves would have no power over us. Then we would not be slaves to sin.
There it is in black and white – the power of the Cross sets us free from the power of sin. Yesterday we talked about the power of our mind to play a role in that. The phenomenon of neuroplasticity means that entrenched neural pathways can indeed be rewired when we make good choices again and again. God’s created our brains so that we can, with persistence, turn bad habits into good ones.
But that’s only one part of the equation of freedom from the power of sin (the operative word there being power). Because if you or I could simply think our way into holiness, we wouldn’t need Jesus to have set us free. No, we need something else. We need power. Real power. Enter the Holy Spirit:
2 Corinthians 3:17 The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
You and I can’t do this on our own. We need Holy Spirit power. God always knew that. That’s why He poured His Spirit out on us in abundance the moment we believed in Jesus.
And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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David Kucera
Walking in the Light 1John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him ...
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Walking in the Light
1John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
1Jn 1:6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.
1Jn 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
1Jn 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
1Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1Jn 1:10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.